1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of computer networks and, more particularly, to efficient transfer of backup data over multiple networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
As computer memory storage and data bandwidth increase, so does the amount and complexity of data that businesses daily manage. A large portion of the data may include electronic documents, announcements, tasks, discussion topics, and so forth. Depending on the business value of this information, access to certain information may be secure and private. The contents of information servers and end-user systems may be backed up to a backup storage to prevent loss of data, especially for data identified as crucial data. In such a case, a dedicated server and storage subsystem may include a backup system.
Administering and supporting an information technology (IT) infrastructure on a large number of end-user systems presents a significant challenge. An IT administrator may develop a management system for data backup and data protection; data recovery, restore, and restart; archiving and long-term retention; and day-to-day processes and procedures necessary to manage a storage architecture. This management system includes strategies and policies for administering storage systems on computing devices. For example, a backup image may be automatically migrated from one storage tier to another. This migration may be referred to as duplication of the backup image. Each storage tier may include a backup server coupled to storage devices such as hard disks.
The transfer of data from the backup server to the storage devices may be through a Fibre Channel (FC) link. A FC network protocol is generally implemented when a business accesses a large amount of information for booting over SANs, mail servers, file servers and large databases. In addition, server virtualization is increasingly used. Hypervisors are able to provide guest operating systems with virtualized storage, accessible through a Fibre Channel network infrastructure. An Ethernet protocol may be used to transfer information over global distances, to remote sites, or in clustered, low-latency compute environments. For example, the migration of a backup image from one backup server to a second backup server may utilize an Ethernet network.
In a given compute environment, particular network resources may be more efficient for data transfer than other network resources. However, connectivity, supported data rates of respective ports and packet sizes for applications each may affect the efficiency of network resources over time. Additionally, a given application, such as a backup application, may not support multiple network resources. Therefore, the data transfer for a backup or a duplication operation may be unable to utilize available and more efficient network resources.
In view of the above, improved systems and methods for efficient transfer of backup data over multiple networks are desired.